Gnocchi With Mushroom, Red Pepper And Goat Cheese Sauce Recipe

November 5, 2013

This is a recipe that was born of boredom while I was completing our weekly shop at Aldi and as it turns out, it’s pretty inexpensive to make. It’s also fairly quick to prepare so it might look a bit fancy, but you can bang it out in about 20 mins which suits my lifestyle just fine!

The completed dish is very rich and for that reason it probably works better as an appetizer or a side dish than as a main course however, if you’re really in the mood, it can work as a main course as well.

The recipe I’ve outlined below will feed 2-3 people as a main course or 4-6 people as an appetizer or side dish.

Alternatives:

If you aren’t a Gnocchi fan this sauce would also work really well over some roasted chicken breasts or even spread over a pizza crust or flat bread and baked to crispy perfection.

Ingredients:

1 Package of gnocchi

1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers

About 15 chestnut mushrooms

75ml cream

150g goat cheese

1tbsp cooking sherry

1tsp butter or olive oil

1tsp salt

1tsp cracked black pepper

Method:

1. First roast the peppers. You can of course use jarred or tinned roasted red peppers but the end flavor just isn’t the same.

Roasting red peppers is something that I found to be fairly intimidating for many years but once I got around to trying it myself I mastered the skill in a couple of attempts.

The first step is to cut the pepper in half or quarters depending on the shape of it and remove the seeds. I prefer to use nice sweet pointed peppers but bell peppers also work fine.

Next brush a bit of olive oil onto both sides and put them skin side up, under a hot grill as close to the grill as your oven will allow.

2. The peppers are finished when they have black blisters and the rest of the skin starts to go wrinkled. Determining done-ness was my biggest issue when I was first learning to roast red peppers. It looks like you’ve burnt them to a crisp but don’t worry, it’s just the skin. They will crackle and pop as well but just ignore it unless they catch fire. Another indicator to done-ness is the fragrance which will be filling your kitchen. If you can’t smell them, they’re not roasted.

This will take about 7-10 mins.

3. Once the pepper is cool enough, remove the skins and chop finely.

When a pepper has been properly roasted the skin will come away very easily in 2 or 3 pieces leaving bright fleshy soggy pepper flesh behind.

4. Next wash and chop mushrooms. This step could be done easily while the peppers are roasting.

I used chestnut mushrooms for their color and flavor and discarded the stumpy stems because they were too dirty and I couldn’t be bothered scrubbing or peeling them.

I cut the caps into slices about 1/4 inch thick.

5. Time to fry the mushrooms. Start the mushrooms off on a medium heat with about a teaspoon of butter or olive oil to lubricate the bottom of the pan until they start giving up their water.

Once the mushrooms start to release their water toss in the cooking sherry, stir and turn the heat to medium high.

The mushrooms are finished when all the liquid has cooked out of the pan.

6. Once the Mushrooms are finished you can add the cream, goat cheese and peppers.

Simmer on a medium heat until the cheese has all melted, and then season to taste with the salt and cracked black pepper.

You can serve the sauce right away however, if you leave it in the pan once it’s finished for 15 minutes the flavors will have more time to diffuse and develop and the overall flavor will be improved.

There is no need to thicken the sauce as the cheese will do the job for you.

7. Lastly you cook the gnocchi.

Gnocchi are basically tiny dumplings that are made of wheat and potato flour. They look sort of like pasta but the cooked texture is very soft and chewy. They are extremely dense and very filling so you might not think the portion sizes look very large but it will sit in your stomach like a brick if you eat too much.

I love them because of their unique texture and flavor. They’re a great alternative to pasta when you just fancy something a bit different.

Another great thing about gnocchi is that they only take about 3 minutes to cook once the water is boiling. Just follow the instructions on the package and be careful not to overcook them or they’ll turn into nasty paste. They’re finished when they float.